Alpha Down
by DiZ-037
Summary: Spartans Kuri 089 and Zan 106 are stranded on a Covenant occupied moon near a strange ring-shaped anomaly, gathering intel for the UNSC. When a mysterious Spartan by the name of Alpha rescues them from death, he shows them the true purpose of the moon.
1. Finding Alpha

/-Author's Comments-/

Please note, this is a work based on the Halo CE map Sanctuary Final. If you haven't played it or know anything about it, it may help to know things about the map.

/-End Author's Comments-/

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><p>Alpha Down-<p>

Kuri ran. He ran until he was out of breath.

"Zan!" He shouted, to his companion who was hitting a few buttons on a panel, "what's our status?"

"Almost dead. We can't hold out on our own against these guys!" he said, running for a door.

"We can't just sit here and let them kill us…" Kuri replied.

The two soldiers were stranded on the moon of Callisto, which was a former mining base. Now, it was just a barren base covered in snow. The Covenant had attacked the moon and had cleared all the structures around it. Kuri and Zan were on a mission to recover some information that was crucial to the war, and was left at the base site. They were shot down by a Covenant Phantom as their Pelican made its way in.

"I'm radioing in for backup," Kuri was about to touch the coms device on when he got a signal from it.

The signal was choppy. "Does…. anyon… read me.. I've crash lan… d by a base lik…. buildin… An…ne..Pl….z..respon…"

"You hear that? Someone is alive out there." Kuri switched on the com, "Yes, I read you, are you there?"

"Yes… nk..God!... I'm…live, but ther…Covies….comin… invasion force.."

"Come again? The connection is staticy."

The radio was starting to clear up, "I'm closing ..ur position, …..bout a half a klick away. The Covies have an invasion force. To retrieve this intel that you're trying to get."

"How do you know about our mission?"

"I know more than you think."

"Could you help us out? There's a Covenant fireteam outside this base, and we need some help out here."

"I can see you, but I've got some on me too."

Kuri could see a Spartan with pure white armor on sprinting towards the doors that Kuri and Zan were at. Zan ducked behind a barricade as a plasma bolt flew by his head. He pulled the pin on a frag grenade and threw it over his head. He heard the reassuring sound of a Jackal shield dissipating as the explosive went off. Raising is MA5B Assault rifle over the barricade, he fired into an Elite's shielding systems, and he retreated when they went out.

Several Grunts were closing in on the doors, and Kuri took them all out with two shots from his CAWS shotgun. The other Spartan was close to them by the time the Covenant reinforcements arrived. The Spartan drew his pistol and fired at the Elite who was falling back towards his allies, and he fell to the ground, where another Elite was helping him back up.

"Spartan!" Zan called to the new Spartan, "Take this, you might need it." He handed the Spartan his rifle, drawing his Sub-Machine gun and running to a panel. Zan hit a button, and a blast door closed, and several explosions were heard on the other side.

"What's going on here?" The Spartan asked the other two.

"We're looking for info down here, apparently the Covenant are too. We're trying to find some data from these panels in this building." Kuri lead him up a ladder and through a hallway where they came to a room with a window revealing the attacking Covenant, and three terminals.

"This terminal here," Kuri gestured to a terminal to the right, "contains data logs from a former residence here. From those logs we got the security code for this terminal," he pointed to a terminal on a platform above the door they came in through, "but that code is encrypted. And we can't decipher it. We've been trying to for a while now…"

"Allow me to try," The Spartan said, with a respectful tone in his voice, "I'm with… the tech crew. I have extensive knowledge with this kind of stuff."

"Sure, have a shot," Kuri said, letting him to the terminal.

"Okay," The Spartan tapped a few buttons, "Okay, I've got the code. It's… EDITOR 797."

"How'd you…." Zan started, but stopped talking as the Spartan walked to the central terminal and tapped the code in.

"Okay, so there's some coordinates here, to a panel to some weapon's control systems."

"Thanks… How'd you do that so quickly?"

"I'm good with this stuff." The Spartan gave Kuri a datapad containing the information.

"Thanks, again. I'm Kuri. You are?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you my name, but you can call me Alpha."

"Secrecy is fine with me," Kuri said, "That's Zan. He's the only other survivor from the crash. We need your help, do you think you could help us with this mission?"

"I was sent down here to assist you. I was shot down on the way down here though," Alpha said.

"Wait, you were sent here to assist us? By who?" Zan asked.

"Well, a whole team was sent, but I was the only one who actually landed. I was sent down here by an orbiting UNSC Vessel. It's gone now though. We're on our own."

There was a crash, and a Plasma cannon round crashed into the side of the building. There was a rumbling noise, and the sound of metal slamming into the ground.

"The blast doors…." Kuri pointed to a door on the other side of the room, "Get through that door!"

Zan put down a timed charge on the entrance. Then he followed Alpha and Kuri down the hallway the other door lead through. A blast door opened up and a garage of Warthog LRVs was revealed. The three got in a hog and drove down the ramp to the exit. A few moments after the blast doors shut and the three were on their way out of the tunnels. Covenant forces had already entered the room the three Spartans were once in. Snow spilled out onto the Warthog as it drove through the exit, but it flew off as it turned around the corner hastily.

As an Elite entered the main room of the structure, a nearby Grunt pointed out a small explosive device set on one of the walls. He attempted to run and warn his allies, but it blew the base to pieces before he could.

"There's bound to be more where that came from," Alpha said, turning another corner.

"Where are you taking us?" Zan asked him.

Alpha had no time to reply as a Covenant drop pod came crashing through the sky in front of the Warthog. He turned to avoid, and hog flipped over, ejecting it's riders. Zan flew off the gun, and landed face down in the snow. Kuri was almost crushed by the hog, but Alpha has caught it and thrown it at their oppressors. A Grunt jumped out of the way of the flying vehicle, but his Elite Officer wasn't as lucky as it came crashing down on his body. As Kuri looked up, he saw Zan stumbling to his feet as well. Alpha shouted something to him but his head was fuzzy, and he couldn't make it out. He suddenly felt himself being moved, and something heavy pressing down on him and throwing him, and looked up to see Zan get crushed by another drop pod.

This was happening too fast for him. He tried his best to react fast, and looked over his shoulder to see a pod come crashing down where he was standing. _That's what he was trying to tell me.._ he thought.

He realized Alpha was on top of him, and then was adjusting him to carry him over his shoulder. Everything blurred, and Kuri blacked out when he felt a burning in his side.

"Dammit, we already lost Zan, don't die on me..." Kuri heard.

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><p>Kuri, Alpha, and Zan are the only characters that belong to me, but everything else isn't mine.<p> 


	2. Meeting Bravo

/-Author's Comments-/

Please note, this second part is based off of the Halo CE Map Extinction, very very far away from the place in the first chapter.

/-End Author's Comments-/

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><p>The Covenant Cruiser fired it's volley of Plasma Torpedoes into the back end of the UNSC Genocide, causing it to fall towards the plateau below it. As it hurtled to the ground, Tex ran to the weapons control and fired a single, well aimed MAC round into it's engines. The ship hit the ground and he blacked out.<p>

"Tex! Get up!" He heard, and Tex sat up. A Spartan in blue armor held out his hand to help Tex up. As he stood, he realized he was in the experimental part of the ship, with no doors, but a teleporter on each side.

"What's going on?" Tex asked the Spartan.

"We're under attack by Covenant ground troops, and we can't establish contact with anything that isn't on this ship already. Follow me, I'll take you to the armory."

"Why are we in the experimental section of the ship?" Tex looked at the blue-greenish vortex that lay on the other end of the hall.

"The whole ship went into this stage when we crashed. You got thrown into a teleporter right when it was activated," The Spartan pointed to the teleporter, "That one will take us to the hangar, and from there I'll show you how to navigate the ship."

The blue Spartan walked through the vortex and Tex hesitantly followed. Tex was new to all this teleporter and energy weapons stuff that was just being employed by the UNSC, and was very skeptical about it's use. He had heard one guy got split in half while going through a teleporter because it's power source died while he was testing it.

They suddenly appeared in a hangar that had many Marines and Spartans running about, loading into the old T51 jets and the new, Longsword fighters the UNSC was finally letting the Marine Corp use. The blue Spartan led Tex to a teleporter underneath the Longsword landing pad, and they found themselves in an armory. Tex picked out a Nitrogen operated variant of the M6C, and an SRS97, a variant of the SRS99 that the UNSC used as a Anti-Infantry weapon. The SRS97 was an Anti-Everything weapon, and it was more of a long range Rocket Launcher that had an effective range of over 20 miles. He walked out of the armory through the teleporter and met the blue Spartan near a pelican.

"Tex, we need you for an important mission involving the Covenant ship that shot us down."

"Isn't it gone?"

"No, the round you fired disabled it's engines, and it's not going anywhere. However, it has been sighted dropping off ground and in-orbit air units to attack us."

Tex nodded and climbed into the back of the pelican as the blue Spartan directed, along with two other Spartans. The pilot lifted off and closed the back hatch on the bird.

"What is your name?" Tex asked the blue Spartan whom had guided him through so far.

"I'm Mark. My team has been assigned to hit the Covenant ship through several teleporters they've set up around their downed ship. It got caught between to large rocks, so their gravity lift is still operational. We're here to stop that."

"What about me?" Tex asked.

"You were assigned to make a distraction. Use whatever you can to make sure they don't get in behind us."

The pilot opened the hatch and they saw a small platform which was used for a sniper nest. It had a large purple-ish teleporter on the side facing the cliff it was built into. As they hovered closer, a Jackal came around the corner and was shot by the Spartan sitting next to him. They all got out, except for Tex, who stayed in the bay.

"Circle around to the other platform and set him off there!" Mark called to the Pelican's pilot, who flew him off to the other sniper platform where another teleporter lay.

Tex hopped off the Pelican, and then moved up near the teleporter, pistol drawn. He scanned behind him, and saw battle going on between the Genocide's troops and the Covenant. Plasma rounds flew into the air, and a Longsword dropped in a missile to take out an approaching vehicle. A pair of Seraphs came and shot it down shortly after.

He heard footsteps behind him, and spun around to see nothing. There was a glare of the light, and Tex knew there was an Elite in front of him when the sword flashed to life. Wasting no time, Tex dove for the Elite's legs and took it to the ground. It swung the sword near his head, but it lodged itself into the floor after he missed. Tex punched the Elite's head a few times as it attempted to pull it's weapon from the ground. He took out his pistol and aimed his it at it's head, but before he could pull the trigger, a 50 caliber round flew straight through it's skull. Mark had beat him to the kill, from a mile away.

Tex tossed the alien's body off the edge of the platform, letting it plummet to the ground. Upon entering the teleporter, he found himself in a room, a control room most likely. There was an elevated floor, with a ramp leading to it and a terminal which wrapped around the railing on the platform. It was a weird design, but it seemed to work for the Elites. As he approached the terminal, he noticed several other teleporters in the room. He decided to take one, as his mission was to create a distraction. He found himself floating downwards, with a Seraph and a red colored Ghost below him. They were unmanned, and as he reached the bottom he realized there were several dead bodies around the ships. Covenant bodies.

"Does anyone read us? This is Pelican Foxtrot 029 requesting support! We're..." the transmission in Tex's helmet cut off. Shortly after a Pelican with a damaged wing and a Seraph behind it came flying over his head. Time to test out his Anti-Everything rifle. He lay down and put the Seraph under his sights, and fired. The Seraph exploded on impact and crashed into the ground. _Damn good weapon.._ Tex smiled. No, wait, not the ground, something worse. Tex's smile disappeared.

_A Scarab..._ Tex thought as the behemoth planted one of its legs into the wreckage of the destroyed ship, and a green burst of energy erupted from it's main cannon and obliterated the Pelican.

Tex's radio had started buzzing with UNSC chatter.

"Whoa! What the Hell is that?"

"Recon Bravo, we have reports of a Scarab on the ground."

"Charlie two, evasive maneuvers! I repeat! Evas-.."

"Get out of there, Lieutenant! Move-"

"Keep firing! Hit it's- "

"Charlie two, report, Charlie two?"

There was static, followed by a single, completely clear message, from command. Tex's head went fuzzy as an image of a woman appeared in his mind.

"There's nothing we can do, all forces fall back to the Genocide immediately. Godspeed to you all."

Tex fell to the ground, and he saw something. Something white, and had the shape of a Spartan, but just wasn't. It wasn't a friggin' Elite for sure.

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><p>Tex, Mark, and the SRS 97 belong to me. Everything else belongs to someone else.<p> 


	3. Charlie Foxtrot!

Alpha Down Chapter 3

Please note, this chapter is based on the Halo CE map Coldsnap, with the blue team base belonging to the Spartans and the Red base unoccupied.

Also note, the Spartans in this chapter have no relation to the Spartans in Halo Reach, their names were thought of before the game came out.

Katherine looked back at the Pelican as it flew off, back towards the base. She and Al, the other Spartan that had deployed with her, were supposed to be scouting for any possible enemy forces in the area. The canyon was a vast, snow covered wasteland, and anything could've hidden deep within the snow. As if something would want to...

As they walked on to a bridge that the UNSC deployed to clear a crevice in the ground, Al got a large heat signature on his scanner.

"Kat, there's a large amount of activity going on somewhere.."

"Where is it? And I told you to stop calling me that."

"It's... right where we are... above us? Maybe?" Al looked up, seeing nothing but a dark, starry sky. He checked below the bridge, and saw nothing of any interest.

Katherine thought she saw movement on the bridge ahead. Something had shaken the snow on the ground, and was causing footprints to appear. Al saw these too, and motioned for them to move back to the start of the bridge, and they laid down in the snow so they may be able to wait for whatever was making these footprints to cross the bridge.

Al called to their command, "General Forman, this is Scout team Charlie nine-two, come in, over."

"This is Forman, go ahead Charlie nine-two."

"There's something out here with us, but it's well hidden. Requesting orbital scan of the canyon."

"Request granted, commencing scan now," after a few moments, the General said, "We aren't getting anything for life signs except for you three."

"Excuse me sir, did you say three?" Al gave Katherine a look of concern, and she readied her rifle.

"Yes, there are three Spartans in your squad, correct?"

"No sir, it's only two, me and Kat."

Kathrine sighed.

"Well then, you've got very faint movement on the other side of the bridge. It's crossing, and it's bigger than an average Spartan. I was thinking maybe a Spartan II? You and Katherine are Spartan IIIs, though... I'm cutting out, in case it can pick up your signal. I suggest hiding."

"Yes, sir." The radio cut out, and Al flipped it into the off position. He needed an in helmet radio very badly, but had no time to make the upgrade.

"Al, there's something right in front of us..." Katherine pointed out footprints appearing in the snow, as if there was something invisible making them.

"But," Al whispered, "There's barely any heat signatures..."

"Yes, but look.." Al and Katherine watched as the footprints walked their way around a hill of snow, and Katherine said, "Maybe it's the Covenant? Some of their soldiers can cloak themselves."

Al moved out of his hiding spot, so he could get a better look at the footprints. It was a strange shape, almost like a human's boot, with the grip and all terrain features on the bottom, but was different in some way, that Al couldn't put his finger on. Katherine moved up, and looked at where the footprints lead.

They seemed to be going in a circle from where the bridge left off, so that meant that...

There was a flash of light behind them as something pushed Kat to the ground. As she reached for her dropped weapon, something was suddenly on her hand, probably a foot, crushing her arm into the ground. She looked over and saw Al getting his shotgun being snapped in two at the handle, by a Spartan-looking figure. It was big, like a Spartan, but had extra armor around the back and leg guards. The way the armor was styled was similar to a Spartan's, but it was something else. Kat realized that it was another one that was holding her arm down.

Her other arm went to the gun, but it was twisted behind her back. She was laying face down, with both arms bound, when she felt something press into her side, and push into her rib cage. It started to sting, then burn, not like a bullet, but like being electrocuted. As the pain steadily increased, she passed out.

Al kicked at the knee of his oppressor, and it stumbled forward. Picking himself up, he tackled the large body, but it easily overtook him. Now, he was pinned, and his enemy drew a small blade-like weapon and held it to his throat.

The other one said something, but Al couldn't make it out, and then he suddenly felt limp, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw nothing.


	4. Delta Zulu

Alpha Down Chapter 4

Please note, this is a Halo CE fanfiction work based on the map RPG Forest, and has almost nothing to do with the events of the other chapters. This is the last chapter that doesn't have anything to do with the previous.

Also, none of the characters in this chapter, or any of my chapters, have anything to do with the characters of the Halo series, Red versus Blue, This Spartan Life, The Spartan Effect, or any other story that has been made with this universe.

Except for the obvious, of course. (Pvt. Jenkins, Master Chief, etc.)

/- End of Author's notes-/

An Elite walked through a corridor to a human soldier he had bound to energy restraints. He barked a command in his own tongue to a nearby Elite, and he promptly closed the door to the corridor.

The soldier looked up at the large alien with hate and bitterness. He looked at his uniform, which he had tried to keep in good shape, for it was cold in this part of the Elite's facility.

The Elite spoke in clear English, "Tell me, human. Where is your home world? The planet you call 'Earth'?"

"You aren't getting me to say anything you big, nasty, son-of-a-" the soldier was cut off when his left arm was scorched by a plasma bolt that came from the Elite's weapon, causing him to scream in pain.

"This isn't working.." The Elite muttered to him self, in his own tongue, and then turned to his assistant, who guarded the door, and said, "Release him. We shall talk on a more... civilized level."

His assistant pressed a few buttons on a panel and the human soldier was released from his bindings.

The Elite turned to the human again, "Now, why don't we talk this out in a civilized way? All we want is some information. Why don't we have an exchange? I'll give you some information, and you give me some in return. After that, I'll release you."

"Yeah?" The human said, "What if I say no?"

"Well, we could keep you here and employ more... violent methods of getting information."

The human sighed and agreed.

"Good. Now, come with me."

The Elite dismissed his assistant and he led the human to an interrogation chamber. As they walked through the corridors, the Elite thought about the human, his olive uniform that served little purpose, and his motivations. He thought about his own, as well, why the Sangheli still resisted the humans, even after the Covenant had fallen. Large groups of Covenant forces still loyal to their dead Prophet still fought, but more and more were leaving the Covenant every day. The group of Elites he served for had disbanded from the Covenant, after the initial group did, but still had a rough relationship with the humans. He wondered why the Humans never told his branch of Elites the location of their homeworld.

The Elite motioned for the human to sit at a chair, and he sat in one across from him.

"Let me begin," the Elite said, "I am Raal' Tha'lmee, one of the security guards of the prisoners we hold here. My current status is Ultra, and my goals are to become an Honor Guard."

"I though your Prophets were dead, what do you need to guard?" the human asked him.

"It is in our culture, not the Shan 'Shyuum's, that the Honor Guard hailed. We still use them to guard our high ranking officials and important bodies in our government and religion. We come from the planet of Sanghelios, and have colonized many planets. The Kegolo, or the Hunters, as you would say, still communicate with us, even after the Covenant falls, as with the Unggoy"

"You mean those little guys?"

"Yes, Grunts, you call them, they need another species to look after them, because they are so dependent on us for protection."

"Makes sense."

Raal' paused for a moment, and gestured to the human, "Now it's your turn to share information."

The human grunted, and then sighed, "Very well," he said, "I'm Private Wallace Jenkins, and I come from the planet Eriden. I know what you're looking for, and I'm sorry, I don't know where Earth is. I've never been there. I've always wanted to, but I never could. I joined the UNSC in hopes of maybe being able to be stationed there, but I was only put on Reach, where I was captured by the Covenant on the Halo ring, and then I never was released after the Covenant was scattered. The last thing I fought some sort of... monster..."

"Monster? What do you mean?" Raal' was actually interested in this human.

"I was this little thing... it jumped on to your body and turned you into this... thing. This thing that goes crazy and kills everything else around it. Once you were touched by it, or one of the little things jumped on you, you turned into one of them... It ate my entire squad, I think I was the only one who made it."

"No, you weren't the only one who made it. Your demon, the one you call the Master Chief, he made it, didn't he?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember seeing him there... Do you know where he is now?"

Raal' shook his head, "He went missing after he killed Truth, our last remaining Prophet.. We believe he is dead, but recent scouts have reported multiple signals that may have came from his AI partner. Also, your military has started up the program that trains the class of warrior you call a 'Spartan'."

"Oh, I guess that's good."

There was a silence, and Raal' realized he couldn't get any information out of this soldier because he had been a prisoner for some time.

"How long have you been a prisoner for?"

"I can't say. Maybe 4 years?"

"Well, I will keep up my end of our deal, you are free to leave. I enjoyed our talk, and got some information out of it. If you'd like, I can take you to the nearest UNSC fortification, which isn't to far from here."

Jenkins stood up, "I'd appreciate that, and I apologize for our rough start. It's interesting, getting to know someone who isn't the same species as you."

Raal' nodded, and led Jenkins out of the base and to a Phantom dropship. Jenkins climbed in the back with Raal' and a few Elite guards as the ship took off.

"Where to?" The pilot of the ship said, in his native language.

"Bring us to the nearest human military fortification, and make sure all our weapons are powered off," Raal' replied.

The ship flew off, and the passengers traveled in silence.

About an hour into their flight, something large was picked up on the radar, and it was moving fast. Raal' gave the clear to engage, but the ship couldn't get it's weapons on in time. The object collided with the Phantom, and damaged it's engines, causing it to crash. Raal' opened the dropship doors manually, and escaped the wreck. Jenkins and another Elite had made it out as well.

"That wasn't a human missile that hit the ship..." Raal' said, "Nor was it plasma based..."

"What is it?" The other Elite asked.

"Monsters.." Jenkins whispered.


	5. Echos and Whispers

Alpha Down Chapter 5

Kuri opened his eyes before a white armored Spartan. His name was Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. He said the name several more times in his head before he heard his voice.

"You're up! Come on, we've got to move. There's Covies moving in our position, and they're not stopping for anything," Alpha helped him up.

"Okay.." Kuri shook his head, trying to clear his vision, "What happened? Where are we?"

"No time, we've got to move, now!"

Kuri looked around. He was in a small, boxed room that had shelves on either side, and an entryway in front of him. That entryway led to a small door that Alpha had locked. There was a shelf next to Kuri, and he saw his helmet on it. At that moment, he realized his helmet was off. Alpha motioned for Kuri to get down, and he ducked behind one of the shelves, taking his helmet with him. Without putting it back on, he peeked over the edge of the shelf. He could see the door, and an Elite came up to it and banged on it a few times. One of his allies approached him, told him something, and then they both walked off, realizing the door was locked shut.

"Okay, change of plans, they might know we're in here," Alpha said, "They're probably going to get something to blow the door down, what do you think we should do?"

"We should surprise them. Did you see how many there were?" Kuri put his helmet on.

"Yes, there were two Elites and four Grunts."

"Okay, we wait in here, and hide when they come in. If they spot us, we hit them with everything we've got and make a run for it," Kuri shook his head clear.

Kuri hid behind the same shelf, and Alpha hid behind one right by the door. They waited, and a hissing noise was heard as the door slid open, and a pair of Elites stepped into the room. Kuri waited a few moments, and after hearing some chatter from the Elites, risked glance up from behind his hiding spot. The two Elites had their backs to him, and Alpha was nowhere to be found. The door slid shut, locked, and the Elites walked off into some other room. More time passed, and then Alpha appeared from his hiding spot.

"Two Grunts," he said in a quiet voice, "We're going to open up the door, and take them out."

Kuri nodded, and Alpha pressed the lock on the door. The door slid open, but the two Grunts hadn't even suspected the Spartans to snap their necks from behind. Alpha hid the bodies behind the locked door, and then led Kuri down a hallway that that got continuously smaller until the ceiling touched the floor. The two Spartans were on their stomachs, crawling forwards. Alpha felt around for a latch, pulled it, and the floor opened up into a hangar with a Pelican dropship. It had a large, square appearance with it's large under-wing engines, and it's nose mounted machine gun. The rocket pods looked unloaded, and there waren't any rockets in the hangar. Alpha climbed in the back and went through to the cockpit, and Kuri followed. From the looks of it, they were inside of a mountain. The hangar had a large opening in the side, where the Pelican could leave. Maybe they could escape!

Alpha gripped the control rods, and pressed the ignition. Nothing happened. He flipped a few switches, and then pressed the ignition again. Nothing. He pressed some more buttons and flipped another switch, then tried the ignition a third time. Still, nothing.

"Something is wrong. If I am correct, this ship is missing an ignition," Alpha said.

"What do you mean?" Kuri asked.

"I mean, the whole entire part that actually starts the engines up, is missing. If it were damaged or malfunctioning, we would at least hear something clicking or whirring or something."

"So, why isn't there an ignition?"

"Well, these things are built with them installed. Someone must have removed it."

Kuri looked back at the empty hangar through the back end of the Pelican, "Like who" He asked, "Like an Elite?"

"No, I'm not sure the Covenant are that savvy about human tech. It'd have to be a human. Maybe the people here before needed a replacement before the Covenant attacked," Alpha flipped all the switches back and turned to exit the ship.

The two exited the ship and looked for another exit. The only visible one was the one in the ceiling, and the one the Pelican was supposed to go out of. Their only choice was to go out of the Pelican's exit. They climbed the small ledge and slid down the side of the mountain. When he looked up, Kuri could see a blizzard moving in. He took a last look at his surroundings. All he could see in front of him were several small rock formations forming passes and canyons throughout one large canyon. It was pointless. The two stumbled on for what seemed like hours, using the rocks and mountains as guidance, trying to get to the back to the building that they had started in. The cold was starting to get to them in their armor.

After some time, Alpha walked into something. It was smooth, not rough like the side of the mountain. He looked up, and saw before him a structure. Not the one they had started in, but a smaller one in the side of a pass. They entered, and found a small supply UNSC supply crate, and a still Elite on the ground next to it. Kuri looked at it closer, it's armor was different. The Elites he had fought before were very sleek and phantom looking, but this one looked like a big and tough Elite you might see as some alien bar or something. It had little armor, and it had a muscular body.

Alpha knelt by the body, "This guy must've worked out a lot." he said, "but there's no bullet holes. Just, a weird burn mark."

Kuri looked at him, "Like a plasma burn? Or a fire burn? Could've been some accident or something."

"They would've taken the body if there were others around, don't you think?"

Kuri took a look at the mark Alpha had pointed out. He was right, it wasn't a plasma burn. It looked more like an electrical shock mark than anything.

Alpha took a look inside the supply crate, while Kuri pondered over the Elite.

"Is he even dead? I should check for a pulse," Kuri said, "Where are their big veins? Maybe the wrist?"

Kuri checked for a pulse like he would for a human. Nothing.

"I'm not an alien, how would I know how their bodies work?"

Kuri left the body alone and check the supply crate with Alpha. Inside it were two MA5B assault rifles, a hand grenade, two small medical supply kits, a pair of binoculars, and a few days worth of dehydrated food.

"Take what you need, we'll rest here, and then move on when the blizzard clears. I left the grenade and binoculars in there for you, if you want them."

Kuri reached into the crate and took a rifle, and checked it's ammo. It was unloaded, and only had one magazine in it's storage compartment. He only had one on his belt, and he had lost all of his other weapons. He put the grenade on his belt and put the medkit on his back, and then put the binoculars around his neck. The food wasn't needed, Kuri was a Spartan, and didn't require food as often. When he looked into the crate to check for anything he missed, he saw something underneath the bags of dehydrated food. A small, green, T shaped object was now in Kuri's hand.

"Alpha, come here. I found something," Kuri called to him.

"Give that here, it's dangerous!" Alpha warned, and Kuri hurriedly handed it over to him.

"What is it? It doesn't look dangerous."

"It's the key to a super-weapon, a weapon on a galactic scale... A lot of people are after this thing..."

Unknown to the Spartans, another entity had entered the room.

"What kind of weapon?" Kuri asked.

Alpha and Kuri turned around to face the small, metal orb that floated behind them. A red light came from it's core.

"It's called Halo, my dear Reclaimers."


End file.
